That's some result for Guam, but of course a very poor one for India. Interesting to note that Stephen Constantine is back in charge of India, he's had one hell of an interesting and rather nomadic managerial career which has seen him manage Nepal, Malawi, India, Rwanda, Sudan and club sides in Cyprus as well as backroom coaching positions at Millwall and Bournemouth. I know that he'd applied for a number of K-League vacancies during the mid-2000s but he never really got anywhere, I'm almost 100% certain he was in for the Busan job when it eventually went to Andy Egli.

Dig out that list of Indian soccer lows, there is a new one to add, in bold.

India lost to Guam in a qualifier for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday. India, it will be pointed out again and again, is a nation of 1.2 billion people. Guam has around 160,000. For every person in Guam there are 7,500 in India.

Holyjoe wrote:That's some result for Guam, but of course a very poor one for India. Interesting to note that Stephen Constantine is back in charge of India, he's had one hell of an interesting and rather nomadic managerial career which has seen him manage Nepal, Malawi, India, Rwanda, Sudan and club sides in Cyprus as well as backroom coaching positions at Millwall and Bournemouth. I know that he'd applied for a number of K-League vacancies during the mid-2000s but he never really got anywhere, I'm almost 100% certain he was in for the Busan job when it eventually went to Andy Egli.

According to one commentator it could be worse:

RaylanCrowder

Not surprised by this one bit. We were shite against Oman and we were shite again today. We will probably slip back to 171 in the rankings by the time the eighth match ends. Still prefer Constantine to Koevermans though because at least we made it past the first round in this qualification campaign.

A country ranked 174 in the world, with a population of 165,000 and coached by a former Bognor Regis player has beaten India in qualifying for the World Cup...

White, 40, was previously coach of the British Virgin Islands and Bahamas national team. He is one of 16 coaches on a Football Association scheme created to boost the number of English coaches in the Premier League.

But it's not just Guam that has shown immense improvement. Worthy of praise are also the following teams:

PalestineThey qualified through the backdoor (AFC Challenge Cup) for the Asian Nations Cup in Australia where they predictably got smashed (1:11 goals). However they seem better for that experience and have shown improvement.Couple days ago they lost 3-2 to Saudi Arabia (winning coal coming in the 4th minute of injury time) and last night they put six past Malaysia inKuala Lumpur!!Malaysia 0-6 Palestine: Charitable Malaysia gift six to PalestineThat said Malaysia looked absolutely dreadful (see the highlights):

PhilippinesSo bad that they didn't even bother entering the qualifiers for the 2006 and 2010 World Cup, they have made huge progress since (partially by lookingfor eligible players who were brought up and trained overseas). Two very impressive results so far in these qualifiers: 2-1 home win over Bahrain at homeand 2-0 win in Doha over Yemen (moved due to the conflict in Yemen). Unfortunately for the Philippines this is a very tough group, with matches against Uzbekistan and North Korea yet to come. But on that form who knows...PHL Azkals stun Yemen with two goals in World Cup Qualifiers in Doha

Notable mention to:SingaporeAfter putting 4 past Cambodia on the road, held out for a 0-0 draw against Japan in Saitama. Must fancy their chances of making thefinal round after that display given that the only other team of note in this weak group is Syria.

Timor-LesteEmbarrassed the (as mention, the admittedly poor) Malaysian team by holding them to a 1-1 draw in Kuala Lumpur a few days ago. Now, playing their home match in the Malaysian city of Shah Alam, held out for 80 minutes against UAE, with the match ending 0-1.

Turkmenistan After losing 1-0 to Guam, restored some pride with a 1-1 home draw with Iran.

Some match ups on September 3: Bahrain v North KoreaNorth Korea have made a good start in a very evenly matched group (table). They face Bahrain on the road who will be try to make a recovery following their surprising loss to the Philippines.

Japan v CambodiaSyria v SingaporeJapan dropped points at home in their match against Singapore. They shouldn't struggle much here (and on Sep 8 when they face Afghanistan in Tehran).As for Singapore, any points won against Syria (match being played in Oman) and they can start dreaming of making the next round of World Cup qualifiers. They did however suffer a 4-0 defeat in a friendly against Qatar on the weekend.

Iran v GuamThis is probably where Guam's dream run will end...

China PR v Hong KongBeing played just on the other side of the border in Shenzhen.

nzfooty wrote:Then again what are the chances of them being determinately affected against Bangladesh tonight?

It's Bangladesh. Would we even notice if they won 3-0 instead of 5-0?

In the end they won 5-0 but that was tame compared to the carnage elsewhere.

Below results + September 8 fixtures and tables. Pretty much everyone qualifies for the next round of Asia Cup qualifiers (or gets another bite) but in terms of World Cup qualifiers, only the group winners and the 4 best runners-up progress.

Observations:* WTF is wrong with Malaysia? They were never a regional force BUT BUT BUT a 6-0 home loss against Palestine and a 10-0 thumping in the UAE?* Extremely poor results by China and Jordan - being held at home against that calibre of opposition is not going to help to finish among the best runners-up.* Singapore failed to get a point on the road against Syria thus denting hopes of finishing second in the group (and definitely being one of the best runners-up) * Nth Korea's group doesn't have any particularly weak teams. That said, Bahrain and Yemen are increasingly looking like they won't not be troubling the business end of the World Cup qualifiers.

SteveW wrote:Apparently all these humpings are good for Asian football ... or so says Twatters anyway.

Because Guam seems to be the argument.

I share your cynicism, but I think we should give it a bit of chance because things obviously aren't going to change much after a couple of matches.

It was carnage on Thursday night and clearly not pretty. That said, that night the top seeds were at home against bottom seeds so it got especially brutal. You get a handful of matches like that, early on in a 4-year cycle (if the current system stays as it is). Soon enough the likes of Australia (having secured qualification for the AFC cup) will bugger off to play 10 to 14 match World Cup qualification campaign against other heavies while the minnows fight out amongst themselves for the remaining AFC places.

Not sure this will improve Asian football but if it is a waste of time, it's not a huge one. It's early in the post WC/AFC cycle, good chance for the bigger teams to regroup and lets face it, Korea needed scoring practice that they got the other night. Also (and this is of course subjective) I do like the inclusiveness.

Guam have done well but they have also played three home matches (one left vs Iran).Don't think they will be adding much to their current total of 7 points. They probably have done enough to qualify for the next round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers though.

nzfooty wrote:In the end they won 5-0 but that was tame compared to the carnage elsewhere.

Below results + September 8 fixtures and tables. Pretty much everyone qualifies for the next round of Asia Cup qualifiers (or gets another bite) but in terms of World Cup qualifiers, only the group winners and the 4 best runners-up progress.